Stories of a twin pregnancy and beyond

Menu

Monthly Archives: December 2013

Post navigation

Our second me ‘Me and Mine’ portrait; and this month is so very special. These photo’s commemorate lots of things but the main ones are these… It’s the first Christmas in nearly 18 years that my boy and I have … Continue reading →

There is just a day and a half more of 2013 left. A few more more hours of the best year of my life (so far). And there have been some really, really excellent years… a few of which are … Continue reading →

I have mentioned in a previous post that, when I first joined Twitter, I didn’t really understand what it was all about, if I’m honest. Following the exploits of various, vacuous celebs isn’t really of much interest to me; which is what I thought it was for. Initially, I didn’t realise what a fabulous resource — or what an amazing community — Twitter is.

Since joining I have met lots of lovely, like-minded people. Lots of other mamas whose tweets and blogs are a huge inspiration, plus various other bods who all have lots of interesting or amusing things to say.

There are fantastic industry people tweeting about ‘women in business’ — useful as I have been running my own company for the last 5 years — and some amazingly kind folk who have been so generous with their time, and really helped me to better understand — and cope with — a child with a serious allergy; which was a godsend when we found out about Bertie’s intolerance to eggs.

All of these things, plus a handful of celebs thrown in (Kirstie Allsopp, Caitlin Moran, Bill Bailey to name a few…) for good measure, makes Twitter a very fun place to be.

But one of my absolute favourite things — and something that I still find amazing that it even exists — is an Twitter Craft Blog Club. I never ‘officially’ joined — I just sort of fell into it — but I am most definitely a virtual card carrying member and I absolutely LOVE it.

It’s pretty hard sometimes often for me to join in with the weekly chats, as it always falls on the babies bedtime or our suppertime, but it’s lovely to feel part of a community and fabulous that you are sharing thoughts and ideas with like-minded people.

When the founding member asked us if we’d like to do a craft-stylee ‘Secret Santa’, I jumped at the chance.

I didn’t think it through properly, before sticking my virtual hand up though. These days 99% of my time is spent looking after my two tiny boys, so agreeing to ‘make’ a gift for someone I’ve never met wasn’t one of my cleverest ideas — from a time management perspective — but hey!

It is one of the most fulfilling things that I’ve done this year, that doesn’t involve my babies or husband. An hour out of every day, for a week or so, where I could switch off and enjoy being a little bit ‘crafty’! Absolute heaven. I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed it.

As my career is a creative one, I’m never short of inspiration, but I rarely create anything by hand these days; pretty much everything I produce is designed on my mac and then printed. It’s rare for me to use my hands anymore – although I’ve always loved to make stuff, given half the chance.

One of the most exciting things was attempting a new craft. I decided I wanted to try something totally different and, having been inspired by something a friend had bought from Not On The High Street, I decided that I was going to make a paper-cut picture.

So after a little bit of head-scratching — and a few hours of graft (not to mention quite a sore index finger!) — this is what I made…

1. I created a design on the computer, flipped it, then printed it out…

2. Taped the image onto another piece of paper and, with a very sharp scalpel, started cutting out the design.

3. And I cut…

4. …and cut…

5. …and cut.

6. Until, eventually, the picture started to emerge.

7. This definitely gave me the boost I needed to carry on!

8. I got a pretty sore index finger from pressing down on my scalpel, but it was soon forgotten as I saw that little pile of paper cut-outs beginning to stack up!

9. And I had to change the blade a fair few times, to get the cleanest cut. I definitely would not recommend this craft if you don’t have a steady hand!

10. Seeing the image emerge was fantastic!

11. Not too much more to do…

12. …until it was time to cut away my original printout.

13. And I was left with my final design, face down on the cutting mat.

14. I loved the way that the shadows gave a cheeky glimpse of the finished design!

18. Then very gently rubbed over the design, to make sure the adhesive covered the back of the paper-cut.

19. Then carefully stuck it onto a piece of midnight blue card.

20. Et Voila.

My very first attempt at making a paper-cut picture! Perhaps I should have designed a less complicated one for my first go, but all in all I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out!

It’s inspired me to design some more and perhaps even begin selling them on my website.

So, from a hurried acceptance to join a virtual Craft Blog Club on Twitter, making this Secret Santa present has been a gift in itself! It has given me the impetus to learn a new craft and — it’s one I’ve enjoyed so much — I am inspired to continue (and will look into doing it commercially). Designing stuff is in my blood — I’ve made a career out of it — so a new medium to discover is really exciting!

Finally, I mounted my paper-cut again onto an off-white piece of card, ready for framing, and sent it off to my Secret Santa recipient :) Was so excited to receive a tweet to say that it had arrived safely; and really happy that Jess liked her picture! I look forward to seeing a pic of it framed and hanging on her wall, across the pond in the US of A.

But this blogpost doesn’t end there.

Whilst I had been busy creating my Secret Santa gift, someone else had also been very busy… making one for me!!!

Someone — who remains anonymous as they cleverly didn’t give their name (unlike me who forgot that it’s SECRET Santa (the clue is in the name) and enclosed a card, from me, along with my gift. DOH. Am putting it down to baby brain.) — has made me the most beautiful gift. This clever, thoughtful crafter took the time to have a look at my Twitter profile, to see what I like — no prizes for guessing that one of my favourite things are of the feline variety! — and has made me my very own Christmas Cat!

LOOK HOW BEAUTIFUL HE IS!!!

I LOVE HIM!!!!!

My thoughtful benefactor won’t know this, but my boy and I have been collecting Christmas decorations since we bought our first home, 15 years ago.

Every year, without fail, we buy another couple of decorations for our tree or and the house and, consequently, we have a gorgeous, eclectic assortment of beautiful things that come out, year after year. My Christmas Cat will join that collection and every year, from here-on-in, he will sit — pride of place — above our fireplace.

So if my Secret Santa is reading this, I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you!! Thanks for taking the time to make such a beautiful gift — I love my cat — he will be treasured for many years to come!

Your very first Christmas; and mine as a mama — your momma — and what a perfect Christmas day it has been.

Watching you as we opened presents was so funny; the old adage of ‘give a baby a cardboard box and some wrapping paper’ is totally true! You were fascinated by everything that was going on but, equally, disinterested. Hilarious to watch you both.

I loved that you sat with us at the table as we ate our Christmas dinner. Even though you weren’t eating, your presence absolutely made it for me – I was over the moon that we were all sitting together.

You boys have rocked our world; you are an absolute blessing and your daddy and I are so, so happy that we are your parents.

This Christmas will be the first of many, many happy family celebrations that we will spend together —we look forward to watching you grow and change and are so proud that we can call you ‘our sons’.

Happy Christmas my beautiful, beautiful boys. I love you more than words can say. You are the present that I’ve been wishing for, for so long and this is, quite simply, the best Christmas ever.

Forty weeks and four days. If the babies were still in the womb, they would be classed as ‘overdue’. As it is, they have been with us now for nine months and nine days. And I can’t believe after all this … Continue reading →

Last week on my Twitter feed, one of the mamas I follow had tweeted: ‘Where did this month go? It’s #MeandMine day tomorrow… already! Who’s linking up this month?’ I have visited her lovely blog on many occasions since joining … Continue reading →